The Anatomy Lesson
by ShimmerAteDeath
Summary: A friendly wager gets out of hand.
1. Chapter 1

The case had taken them out of town, and now, holed up in a ratty hotel room just south of nowhere, they sat on the bed in her hotel room, reviewing the case file.

Booth was sprawled out, head on a pillow, carefully reading her initial findings while Brennan reviewed his interview notes, her back straight, sitting neatly cross-legged beside him. The day had been uncharacteristically long, even for them, and their exhaustion had created a lazy disregard for a proximity they normally avoided.

"Bones, where's the uhh..._calcaneus_ again?" he asked, squinting slightly to read her scribbled notes.

She looked up, clearly dismayed. "Booth, that's the third bone in this report you've needed my help to identify. I'm rather disappointed that you haven't paid a bit more attention to my work these last few years."

"Awww, Bones. You know it's hard to remember all those names. It's all Greek to me," he said teasingly.

"Actually, the etymology of bones is varied. Not only Greek, but also Latin, even Middle English, are the roots of the names we use today," was her matter-of-fact reply, missing his slight eye roll at her missing his joke.

"Come on, I know most of them. And I definitely know all the important ones," he retorted, arms crossing.

"And how exactly might one create a ranking system of importance for human bones? Explain to me your evaluation system," she challenged, easing so comfortably into her tone of friendly conflict.

"The big ones. I know all the big ones: femur, scapula, ribs, elbow...," he trailed off, glad she could never tell when he was obviously baiting her.

Moving to her knees in frustration, hands on hips, she scoffed, "elbow? There is no elbow bone. The elbow _region_ is composed of three bones, the _humerus_--"

"--the _radius_ and the _ulna_," he interrupted, quite proud of himself. "See, Bones? Like I said, I know most of them."

Her eyes flashed, pleased with his answer, but determined not to show it. "I bet you can't identify half the bones in the human body," she challenged, arms crossing her chest, a mirror image of his stance.

"What are the conditions of this wager?" he asked.

"I don't know what that--"

"--a bet involves stakes. Consequences for winning or losing. Therein lies the excitement," he stated.

"Booth, seeing as you are a former gambling addict, it may be irresponsible for me to condone this sort of behavior," she countered with a slight eyebrow raise.

"First of all, there are no former addicts, just recovering addicts. Second of all, I believe a friendly wager not involving a cash prize has little chance of sending me into a downward spiral," he said, grinning.

"Okay. Well...if I win this 'friendly wager,' I get to drive. For a month," she offered.

"Interesting. If I win, you have to hire a new intern. A permanent one. Within a week," he suggested, sitting up from his reclined position to face her fully.

She weighed the options internally for a moment. Clearly, this was a test to see how much she enjoyed driving.

"I accept your terms. Please begin," she decided, moving off the bed and around to his side to stand beside him.

"Well," he began, looking up at her, "we've already covered _humerus_, _radius_ and _ulna_, so I'm already at 6...only 97 left." A cocky grin graced his face, the one he normally reserved for closing in on victory.

"Hold on, the wager is to _identify_ bones, not name. You must locate them in the skeletal structure," she said smugly. "Incidentally, don't assume I don't consider it cheating that you are using some bones that I already named," she added.

"I don't believe you stipulated any rules against using those bones. And do you normally keep a skeleton in your carry on or check it? Because I don't see how I'm supposed to identify bones without a body," he said. "Now where was I..."

"I have a body," she said bluntly.

Clearly not a fact he had missed. And what a body it was.

"You want me to identify your bones, Bones?" he said, aiming for a tone of incredulity, but hitting something a little more dark and dangerous than he would like.

She stood, arms out and perpendicular to her body. "Ninety-seven to go, Booth."


	2. Chapter 2

He stood up slowly from the bed, moving behind her. Although he didn't move, speak or touch, she could feel his heat on her back. Then, she felt his hand slowly brush her hair over her shoulder, leaving him an unobstructed view of the skin of her neck and her tank top covered back.

She wanted to shiver at the light touch, but refused. Temperance Brennan always played to win.

"Let's start with the vertebral column. First the cervical vertebrae," he said as she felt the tip of his finger linger at the top of her neck.

And then he counted slowly, methodically, moving his finger down her spine as he called off the bones.

"C1...C2...C3..." he said softly, only slightly above a whisper.

She was surprised at how good it felt for him to touch her this way. So softly and slowly...so intimate. It felt so natural, so unforced...just, so good. She scoffed internally at her own lack of vocabulary. She was obviously exhausted, she reasoned.

"...C4...C5...C6...C7," he finished, "Now on to the Thoracic vertebrae."

Somewhere between T3 and T8 she noticed her body warming. She felt her blood flow down, down...an unmistakable sign of the beginnings of arousal. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she realized that her partner's innocent actions were affecting her in such a carnal way. Luckily, he couldn't see her face, but what was she going to do? Ask him to stop? If she capitulated now, he would know there had to be a good, or at least a big, reason for it. He knew her. She didn't give up on a fight.

When he reached her Lumbar vertebrae, she felt his hand move under her shirt to touch the bare skin of her back. She started slightly in surprise.

"Sorry, Bones, I can't differentiate between L3 and 4 through your shirt," he said, finger stilling on her back.

"Understandable. Continue," she said, proud of her unwavering voice.

By the time he started on the sacral vertebrae, she could feel the area between her legs throbbing, both in the reality and anticipation of his touch. Shocked at the exponential growth in the intensity of her reaction to him, she bit her lip as she felt him continue down.

"Coccygeal vertebrae," he murmured, his voice rough and deep as he moved in his finger down further, clearly eschewing normal, friendly boundaries. He was moving so slow, almost daring her to stop him. He had leaned in closer without noticing, so close she could feel his breath, short puffs, on the back of her neck. Her nipples hardened in response, but hidden from his view. She closed her eyes, overwhelmed by him. Overwhelmed by him being the one doing this to her. His phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. Reaching over, still behind her, he answered it gruffly.

As she turned to him, he spun away from her, continuing his end of the conversation with monosyllabic responses before ending the call and facing her again.

They each took a moment to observe the other.

Flushed cheeks, black, dilated eyes, her hard nipples visible and prominent beneath her thin top, and a bulging erection tenting his dress pants.

"We've got another body, Bones. Get your kit," he said, eyes darting down to appreciate her full breasts a few times before he moved to grab his suit jacket.

"Do I get to drive?" she asked, her voice so low and rough it felt foreign.

"No. I'm definitely not done with this anatomy lesson yet," he said with a smile as he grabbed his keys and opened the door.


End file.
